Cool Bench *LINK*

Re: Cool Bench

Dan Donaldson

>I wonder what it's vices are? Maybe it smokes and chases wild women ;-) The ad says it has them ;-) Somehow, I think that the seller is a bit optimistic.

Re: Cool Bench

Todd Hughes

>I see lots of these type of old work benches at the weekly auction I go to, most are built a little heavier then this one though I have seen ones like it. Have seen 3 in one day sold befor. Is interesting but prices can be all over the place. Have seen an avarage one sell for close to $500 [to a woman who told me money is no object!] and a few months befor a bigger one go begging for $5. I was almost going to bid on it but my girlfriends held my hands down not looking forward to helping me load and unload it. Auctioner actually asked me if I wanted it only to be answeared with load "NOs!" Probably best as i would have had to put it out on my back porch and already have one there already. The old one in my shop is very big and think I gave $35 for it. I would have to say they are pretty common even in the old tool hell I live in and always wonder why guys go to so much trouble to build a new one instead of just buying an older vintage one. I don't know but I wouldn't mind picking up a small one.....Todd

Re: Cool Bench

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>I remember moving a couple of those onto your back porch.

I agree about the effort to restore one. Someone gave us an old one, and I did some repair and restoration on it. It needed a lot of work to make it functional, but none of it was something that you would not have had to do if you built one from scratch. Here is an in-progress shot, with new stretchers.

I had to make a new back rail for the top, rebuilt and pinned all the joints in the frame, removed and replaced a lot of bugwork, and did some major reconstruction of the tail vise, which is not shown in this "work in progress" shot, since it is in pieces on the ground.

Like Todd, I don't want to scare anyone off from acquiring one. Rebuilding the tail vise, especially one that was worn and broken, and even if not originally constructed according to best practices, can teach you a lot about what makes a tail vise and the whole bench work well. I sure learned a lot. It might help to have a copy of The Workbench Book to refer to while you tackle the job, but having the real thing will show you a lot that the book leaves a bit unclear.

But probably not for $1250 ;-)

Dan Donaldson

>

Re: Cool Bench

paul womack

>That tail vise looks a little clean and "slick" to be 18c?

BugBear

Actually.....

Todd Hughes

>the sellers never said the bench was from the "18c" [18th. century, 1700's] but rather that the bench was from the 1800's .

.... While I suppose it could date from the early 1900s I think it is more likely that it is a bit older and probably dates from the last half of the 1800's when most of these benches were built and used I think.Is certainly a 1800s "style" bench

....I believe benches in the 1700s [18th. century] didn't commonly use vices ......Todd

Re: agreed - darn you!

paul womack

>[18th. century, 1700's]

I hate that! You're quite right - my guess for dates was 1870-1920, given the sophisticated tail vise, with very perfect (and clean!) screw.

BugBear

More information wanted..longish.

Victor Parisian

>Bill this looks like a very cool project. Can you post more pictures of what you are doing with it? Please.

Hopefully in the early spring, or maybe even January I can start on my own workbench (beta-v1.0). I have a lot of questions concerning the uses of the various features on this bench. I understand the tool tray area, and the idea of the leg vise. I'm not clear on the bulk of the end vise. You mentioned the workbench book, does this get into the whys and the wherefores of the various components?

Can anyone give a fairly clear explanation of the various features and the whys of the features and various choices to be made in the design stage of the bench?

Victor - Finally starting to feel like Christmas here in beautiful Houston.

Re: More information wanted..longish.

paul womack

>You mentioned the workbench book, does this get into the whys and the wherefores of the various components?

Yep. Either buy, or head for a library. In either case, reading it will make you aware of some of the factors to be considered, and some potential (and in some cases conflicting) decisions to be made.

The important thing to realise is that there is no such thing as the (unconditional) "ultimate bench". There may well be an ultimate bench for you, conditional on your current skills, anticipated projects, and budget.

And you might care to review some bench related links from my site

BugBear

Re: More information wanted

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>I have several more photos of the repair work, but they are unprocessed, uncompressed, uncropped digital camera photos, 600K to 800K each, and they're not uploaded to the web, because I don't have room for them. Further, they might not do you a lot of good, as they are specific to this particular bench, and to the repair of the damage that had been done to it over the years. You would be much better off starting with the WBB as a guide. Also, I don't have any measurements, but the WBB does. As I was doing the work on the tail vise, I found several important differences between this one and the one in the WBB. Some of these differences led to the failure of this one. Some I corrected; some I could not. I think the design in the WBB is better.

Note also that part of the repair was to add trestle feet to the bottom of the legs, to raise it about 4", in conformance with modern statures and modern work practices in a mixed power and hand tool shop.

Here's a "teaser" of the bench in use. That's the least I can provide quickly, considering the sincerity of your interest. Sorry it doesn't show the leg vise.

The stretchers are red oak. Trestle feet are black locust. Pegs are probably beech. Back rail is tulip poplar. Tail vise components and dogs are curly rock maple. Garter is tulip poplar. Vise handle is mahogany with black locust caps. Just like the original, I used whatever was available and had the appropriate working characteristics.

The Hepplewhite shieldback chair is mahogany, and when finished it would cost you even more than bench on eBay that started this thread :^)

leg vise

Adam Cherubini

>I like the way the leg sticks thru the top. Seems that would be a good place to wail on. The dominy bench has a couple spots like that as I recall and I was surprised there wasn't more wear there.

OTOH, those dog holes look like they are a mile from the edge of the bench. "Sticking board not included" I guess.

Adam

Wail?

Frank D. in Montreal

>Hi Adam,

I was wondering if you could just expand a bit about wailing (you or anyone eho knows what it is). I have no idea what that might be, other than crying loudly...

Thanks,

Frank

Re: Wail?

Ed in Leaside

>I started a dissertation on the creation of weiner schnitzel with a mallet, but ... the basic translation is "beat the c@#$ out of ...".

Thanks Ed

Frank D. in Montreal

>I thought it was a mysterious 18th century technique. I guess it was used long before that.

Re: Thanks Ed

ThomD

>"To whack with wild abandon" is how Oxford refers to it.

I sympathise with your problem: It is going to be hard to take anything Adam says wtihout exploring the art and mystery side first.

thar she BLOWS, mateys!

frank shic (walnut ck, ca)

>i thought he was going to hunt for moby with his SPEAR plane! yuk, yuk, yuk...